Garment hanger device

ABSTRACT

A clothes hanger support for shipping containers including a horizontally extending cross bar having at each end U-shaped brackets that fit over the sides of the container with the cross bar projecting through the inner legs of each of the brackets, having a tab interengaged with the outer leg of each of the brackets and a tab interengaged with the inner leg of each of the brackets to provide a secure attachment between the cross member and the brackets.

United States Patent [1 1 Maziarka et al.

[451 July 3,1973

[ GARMENT HANGER DEVICE [76] Inventors: Joseph A. Maziarka; Robert J.

- Maziarka, both of c/o Relling Corporation, 1837 W. Grand Avenue, Chicago, 111. 60622 [22] Filed: Jan. 26, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 220,767

[52] US. Cl. 211/123, 206/7 A [51] Int. Cl. A47f 7/19, A47k 10/04 [58] Field of Search 211/123, 124, 105.1, 211/113; 206/7 A; 248/251, 201

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,793,035 2/1931 Whitney 211/123 2,233,733 3/1941 Clouse 248/251 2,518,328 8/1950 Janonis 211/123 X 3,633,760 l/l972 Vosbikian..' 211/124 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATlONS 1,366,153 6/1964 France 206/7 A Primary Examiner-Ramon S. Britts Attorney-Hofgren, Wegner, Allen, Stellman &

McCord ABSTRACT A clothes hanger support for shipping containers including a horizontally extending cross bar having at each end U-shaped brackets that fit over the sides of the container with the cross bar projecting through the inner legs of each of the brackets, having a tab interengaged with the outer leg of each of the brackets and a tab interengaged with the inner leg of each of the brackets to provide a secure attachment between the cross member and the brackets.

11 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PAIENIEUJUL 3:915 3.743 106 sum 1 or 2 GARMENT HANGER DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION In the garment industry shipping cases or cartons are provided for shipping garments that are in turn supported on conventional hangers. These cases or cartons generally include a rectangular inner casing having four walls and a closely fitting outer casing also having four walls, one of the walls of the inner casing being hinged along the length of one of its vertical sides so that it can be swung outwardly like a door to define a doorway providing access to the interior of the case. The overlying wall of the outer casing is similarly hinged but along the opposite side of the doorway so that it will swing like a door outwardly in the opposite direction with the inner door of the inner casing being held in its closed position when the outer door is closed. A hanger bar is provided for suspending the garment hangers and this bar is mounted at the top of the inner casing in slots provided in two opposite walls of the outer casing in such a manner that the hanger bar is supported by both the inner and the outer casings.

It is also conventional for these shipping cases or cartons to include only a single casing rather than the double casing described above. In a similar fashion, however, the hanger bar is mounted on the top of the side walls of the casing on brackets, generally of U-shaped configuration which are placed over the tops of the opposite vertical side walls.

The garment hanger is generally a disposable item supplied to the garment manufacturer since any rust on the hanger could cause damage to clothes if the hangers were repeatedly used. For this reason, the clothes hangers are extremely high-volume items. Nevertheless, to date, these items have been comparatively expensive to manufacture because of the multiplicity of sheet-metal-forming steps to construct a bracket of sufficient strength and durability to maintain the garments in the proper position during the sometimes rugged movement encountered during shipment.

In the past, these hangers have taken the form of U- shaped end brackets which fit over the upper ends of the sides of the garment carton with the hanger bar suspended on the brackets and extending across the interior of the carton to provide a support for the clothes hangers at the upper end of the carton or casing.

The various manners of attaching the bar to the brackets to provide a rugged interconnection has in the past contributed greatly to the cost of these items.

One such garment support is shown in our U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,427 illustrating a garment hanger channel shaped cross bar that extends between U-shaped brackets fixed to the sides of the shipping container. Tongues are provided on each end of the cross bar that fit in straps in the inner legs of the brackets for fixing the cross members to the brackets.

It is the primary object of the present invention to reduce the forming and assembling steps required in the manufacture of the garment hanger support while at the same time adding strength to the support.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, a garment hanger support is provided consisting basically of a cross member with a U-shaped bracket at each end of the cross member constructed in such a manner to reduce the forming steps for the cross member and the U-shaped brackets while at the same time providing increased rigidity in the interconnection between the cross member and the brackets as well as increased rigidity to the brackets themselves. Toward this end the cross member is constructed so that it extends through the inner leg of each of the brackets and abuts the outer leg so that the cross member has greater length than in heretofore known constructions. By providing suitable attaching tabs according to the present invention each of the legs of the brackets is fixed to the cross member providing not only a more rigid interconnection between the cross member and the brackets, but also providing a more rigid bracket since each of the legs is supported on the cross member.

According to one embodiment of the present invention the cross member is of cylindrical shape and has an upper opening in the distal ends thereof that receives an upwardly projecting tab on the top of the outer leg of each of the cross members. There is provided in this embodiment a slot in the lower portion of the tubular cross member that receives an upwardly projecting tab on the lower portion of the inner leg of each of the brackets.

In a second embodiment of the present invention the cross member is channel shaped and has tabs extending axially from each of the depending sides of the channel through the outer leg of each of the brackets, and also a tab is provided on the upper portion of the inner leg of each of the brackets which extends through an opening in the bight portion of the cross member for the purpose of holding the inner leg to the cross member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shipping container with a garment hanger device according to the present invention is poisiton;

FIG. 2 is a cross section taken generally along the lines 2-2 of FIG. 1 illustrating one of the brackets in position in the shipping container;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of one end of the garment hanger support shown in FIG. I;

FIG. 4 is a section taken generally along the lines 4-4 of FIG. 3 illustrating one of the brackets;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section taken generally along the lines 5-5 of FIG. 3 showing the manner of attachment of the bracket to the cross member;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section of another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the garment hanger support shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a cross section taken generally along the lines 8-8 illustrating one of the brackets in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6; and

FIG, 9 isa fragmentary section taken generally along the lines 9--9 of FIG. 7 illustrating the manner of attachment of the bracket of the embodiment of FIG. 6 to the cross member thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings and particularly FIGS. 1-5, a shipping container 10 is illustrated having side walls 11 and 12 adapted to receive a garment device 14 according to the present invention.

As seen clearly in FIG. 1 the garment hanger device consists of a tubular cross member 16 having U-shaped brackets 17 and 18 fixed to the ends thereof and received on the upper ends of the side panels 11 and 12 of the shipping container 10. p

The U-shaped brackets 17 and 18 not only support the cross member 16 but also serve to rigidly space the side walls 11 and 12 to maintain the integrity of the container during shipment.

Garments on hangers indicated at 22 in FIGS. 1 and 2 are placed over the cross member 16 and a suitable shielding device 24 is positioned over the tops of the hook portions of the hangers after which the container flaps 27 and 28 are closed. The garment shipping containers are then ready for shipment.

As seen more clearly in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the tubular cross member 16 has an end portion 30 which projects through a U-shaped opening 31 (FIG. 4) in an inner leg 33 of bracket 17. It should be understood that the description of the bracket 17 and its relationship with the cross member 16 is identical with that of bracket 18 so that detailed description of the latter is not contained herein.

The bracket 17 is seen to consist of legs 33 and 36 attached by an upper bight portion 37.

The end 30 of the tubular member 16 extends between the legs 33 and 36 and has an end surface 37 which engages an inner surface 40 of the outer leg 36. In this manner the end portion 30 engages the inner leg 33 in U-shaped slot 31 and the outer leg 36 by engagement of the end surface 37 therewith. This serves in rigidifying the cross member-bracket interconnection.

For the purpose of attaching the outer leg 37 to the cross member 16, a tab 42 projects centrally upwardly from the leg 36, then horizontally and downwardly as indicated 'at 44 through a circular opening 45 in the upper end of the tubular member 16. This is done by a crimping operation and securely fixes the leg 36 to the. end of the tubular member 16 holding face 37 in contact with surface 40. i

For the purpose of fixing leg 33 of bracket 17 to the cross member 16, a pointed tab 46 is provided as seen in FIGS. and 6 which projects upwardly through a slot 48 in the lower portion of the tube 16. The tab 46 is not bent over, but remains in a position shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. This tab 46 serves to connect the inner member to the tube 16 and also serves with the tab 42 to rigidly space the legs 33 and 36 from one another, an important advantage in the present invention.

A second embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 6-9 wherein a shipping container 110 is seen to receive a garment hanger support 114 of a construction similar to that illustrated in FIGS. 1-5.

The garment support 114 includes a channel shaped cross member 116 having downwardly depending side flanges 117 and 118 with a bight portion 120.

Brackets 122 are provided at each end of the cross member 116 in a manner similar to the FIGS. 1-5 embodiment. The brackets 122 are seen to include depending side legs 130 and 131 interconnected by a center upper bight portion 133. The bight portion 133 has a central cut out 136 providing a recess 137 and the inner leg 131 of the bracket 122.

As seen more clearly in FIG. 8 the front leg 131 has two vertical slots 138 extending downwardly from recess 137 which receive the depending flanges 117 and 118 of the cross member 120. Upper bight portion 120 of the cross member rests on upper surface 141 of the recess 137 and leg 131. As shown in FIG. 7, the end of the cross member extends through the recesses 138 and has end surfaces 142 which engage inner surface 144 of the outer leg 130 to hold the bracket legs firmly in position.

For the purpose of fixing the inner leg 131 to the bracket, an upwardly projecting tab 146 is provided as shown clearly in FIG. 9 that extends through an aperture 147 (FIG. 8) in the cross member 120. The tab 146 is bent flush with the top of the cross member 116 rigidly holding the leg 131 to the cross member.

To fix the outer leg to the cross member, tabs 150 and 151 as shown in FIG. 7 project axially from the ends of the flanges 117 and 118, respectively, through suitable openings 153 in the outside leg 130. These tabs are bent over flush against the outside leg to rigidly connect the same thereto and hold the inside surface 144 of the leg in intimate engagement with the end surface of the cross member 116.

In this manner, the legs 130 and 131 are rigidly connected to the cross member 1 16 while at the same time the legs of the bracket 122 are rigidly spaced apart to provide a more rigid structure than known in the prior art and at the same time one less expensive to fabricate and assemble.

We claim 1. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container, comprising: a cross member, a downwardly directed, generally Ushaped bracket at each end of the cross member adapted to fit over the shipping container, said bracket having depending legs, the cross member extending between the legs of the brackets, first means connecting one of the legs on each bracket to the cross member, and second means connecting the other of the legs on each bracket to the cross member, the first and second means rigidly attaching the brackets to the cross member and rigidly spacing the legs of each bracket against movement with respect to each other.

2. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 1, wherein the ends of the cross member projects through the inner leg of each of the brackets.

3. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 2, wherein the endsof the cross member have end surfaces engaging the inner surfaces of the outer legs of each of the brackets to add strength to the support. I

4. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 1, wherein said first means includes an integral tab on the outer leg of each bracket projecting through an opening in the upper surface of the cross member.

5. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 1, wherein said second means includes a tab on the inner leg of each of the brackets extending through an opening in the lower surface of the cross member.

6. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 5, wherein said cross member is tubular.

7. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container, comprising: a cross member a downwardly directed, U-shaped bracket at each end of the cross member, said U-shaped bracket having depending legs flanking the sides of the shipping container, an opening in the inner leg of each of the brackets, the ends of the cross member projecting through the openings in the inner legs and having end means engaging the inner sides of the outer legs of each of the brackets, a tab projecting upwardly from the outer leg of each bracket at a point adjacent the top of the cross member, an opening in the cross member at each end thereof and at the top thereof for receiving and holding said tabs, and a second tab extending upwardly from the inner legs of each of the brackets adjacent the lower portions of the cross member, and an opening in the cross member adjacent each of the inner leg tabs for receiving and holding the I inner leg tabs, the brackets being rigidly attached to the cross member, and the legs of each of the brackets being rigidly spaced against movement with respect to each other.

8. A clothes hanger support for a garment shipping container, as defined in claim 1, wherein said first means includes at least one tab extending axially from the ends of the cross member, openings in the outer leg of the brackets for receiving the tabs.

9. A clothes hanger support for a garment shipping container as defined in claim 1, wherein said second means includes a tab projecting upwardly from the inner leg of each of the brackets through openings in the top of the cross member.

10. A clothes hanger support for a garment shipping container, as defined in claim 9, wherein said cross member is channel shaped.

11. A clothes hanger support for a garment shipping container, comprising: a channel shaped cross member, downwardly directed, generally U-shaped brackets at the ends of the cross member, said brackets having depending outer and inner legs, the inner legs of the brackets having slots for receiving depending sides of the cross member, the ends of the cross member having end surfaces in engagement with the inner surfaces of the outer legs of the cross member, axial tabs extending from each of the depending sides of the cross member and extending through openings in the outer leg of each of the brackets, and an upwardly extending tab on the inner leg of each of the brackets extending through an opening on the upper portion of the cross member, the

.brackets being rigidly attached to the cross member,

and the legs of each of the brackets being rigidly spaced against movement with respect to each other. 

1. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container, comprising: a cross member, a downwardly directed, generally Ushaped bracket at each end of the cross member adapted to fit over the shipping container, said bracket having depending legs, the cross member extending between the legs of the brackets, first means connecting one of the legs on each bracket to the cross member, and second means connecting the other of the legs on each bracket to the cross member, the first and second means rigidly attaching the brackets to the cross member and rigidly spacing the legs of each bracket against movement with respect to each other.
 2. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 1, wherein the ends of the cross member projects through the inner leg of each of the brackets.
 3. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 2, wherein the ends of the cross member have end surfaces engaging the inner surfaces of the outer legs of each of the brackets to add strength to the support.
 4. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 1, wherein said first means includes an integral tab on the outer leg of each bracket projecting through an opening in the upper surface of the cross member.
 5. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 1, wherein said second means includes a tab on the inner leg of each of the brackets extending through an opening in the lower surface of the cross member.
 6. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container as defined in claim 5, wherein said cross member is tubular.
 7. A clothes hanger support for a shipping container, comprising: a cross member a downwardly directed, U-shaped bracket at each end of the cross member, said U-shaped bracket having depending legs flanking the sides of the shipping container, an opening in the inner leg of each of the brackets, the ends of the cross member projecting through the openings in the inner legs and having end means engaging the inner sides of the outer legs of each of the brackets, a tab projecting upwardly from the outer leg of each bracket at a point adjacent the top of the cross member, an opening in the cross member at each end thereof and at the top thereof for receiving and holding said tabs, and a second tab extending upwardly from the inner legs of each of the brackets adjacent the lower portions of the cross member, and an opening in the cross member adjacent each of the inner leg tabs for receiving and holding the inner leg tabs, the brackets being rigidly attached to the cross member, and the legs of each of the brackets being rigidly spaced against movement with respect to each other.
 8. A clothes hanger support for a garment shipping container, as defined in claim 1, wherein said first means includes at least one tab extending axially from the ends of the cross member, openings in the outer leg of the brackets for receiving the tabs.
 9. A clothes hanger support for a garment shipping container as defined in claim 1, wherein said second means includes a tab projecting upwardly from the inner leg of each of the brackets through openings in the top of the cross member.
 10. A clothes hanger support for a garment shipping container, as defined in claim 9, wherein said cross member is channel shaped.
 11. A clothes hanger support for a garment shipping container, comprising: a channel shaped cross member, downwardly directed, generally U-shaped brackets at the ends of the cross member, said brackets having depending outer and inner legs, the inner legs of the brackets having slots for receiving depending sides of the cross membeR, the ends of the cross member having end surfaces in engagement with the inner surfaces of the outer legs of the cross member, axial tabs extending from each of the depending sides of the cross member and extending through openings in the outer leg of each of the brackets, and an upwardly extending tab on the inner leg of each of the brackets extending through an opening on the upper portion of the cross member, the brackets being rigidly attached to the cross member, and the legs of each of the brackets being rigidly spaced against movement with respect to each other. 